Cornerstone OnDemand vs SmarterU.com

Likelihood to Recommend

Cornerstone is the #1 Learning Management System for a reason. The Learning Management and Performance Management tools are amazing. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a talent platform. They have room to grow in the recruiting space. I believe that the new tools on the roadmap look promising, however, we ended up removing this tool from our contract and going with another vendor. Cornerstone is not nearly as experienced in the talent acquisition space as it is in talent management.

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Jennifer Goodwin, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

HR Manager

JK Moving ServicesTransportation/Trucking/Railroad, 501-1000 employees

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SmarterU works and is much more cost-effective than other LMS systems out there. Support was great in the beginning when creating initial training.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting

Education Management Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

New hire portal

Manager tracking tools

Compliance tracking and reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Corporate goal setting

Subordinate goal setting

Individual goal setting

Line-of sight-visibility

Performance tracking

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Performance plans

Plan weighting

Manager note taking

Performance improvement plans

Review status tracking

Rater nomination workflow

Review reminders

Workflow restrictions

Multiple review frequency

Reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Create succession plans/pools

Candidate ranking

Candidate search

Candidate development

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Job Requisition Management

Company Website Posting

Publish to Social Media

Job Search Site Posting

Customized Application Form

Resume Management

Duplicate Candidate Prevention

Candidate Search

Applicant Tracking

Collaboration

Task Creation and Delegation

Email Templates

User Permissions

Notifications and Alerts

Reporting

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Course authoring

Course catalog or library

Player/Portal

Learning content

Mobile friendly

Progress tracking & certifications

Assignments

Compliance management

Learning administration

Learning reporting & analytics

Social learning

Pros

User friendly and attractive website design.
It offers the ability to do online training, or also track face to face, on the job training.
It's continuously improving with new features to keep up with the growing demand for online learning.
Rather simple admin interface.

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Jessica Bussey

Senior Instructional Designer

Builders FirstSourceBuilding Materials, 10,001+ employees

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Software works on multiple devices: computer, iPad, iPhone, Chromebook, etc.
Easy to navigate

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting

Education Management Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

Observation checklists can be tricky to navigate
Updating content and how that affects Curriculum/re-versioning
Certification management can be frustrating for expired users
Removing content for terminated employees could be easier, instead of removing content item by item, would be nice to be able to remove all content from active transcript to removed transcript

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Stephanie Dorsey

Instructional Designer/LMS Admin

Children's Hospital & Medical CenterHospital & Health Care, 1001-5000 employees

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Software could be gamified better.
Should provide more opportunities for interactive learning.
Sometimes glitchy and logs users out in the middle of a training module.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting

Education Management Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Cornerstone OnDemand 9.5

Based on 25 answers

As long as pricing stays reasonable, we will likely stay with Cornerstone for at least one more contract renewal. It would be a large task to migrate all of our content to a new system. However, the LMS landscape is diversifying with new startups that are showing some real innovation.

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Jamie Drahos

Learning Management System Administrator, Training Specialist

Tennant CompanyMachinery, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Usability

Cornerstone OnDemand 8.8

Based on 25 answers

Cornerstone OnDemand in general has very good usability. It is easy for end users to start using it. We don`t need to provide any trainings for learners or line managers. At maximum we can create one pager with general information. It is easy to search trainings. You don’t need to know the ID or full name of training.

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Andriy Verminskyy

Business Solutions Specialist

NestléFood & Beverages, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Reliability and Availability

Cornerstone OnDemand 8.2

Based on 2 answers

I've never felt like i've been left high and dry by Cornerstone. we may be frustrated with some problems but they are always there with us working for solutions

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Joseph Madere

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Performance

Cornerstone OnDemand 2.7

Based on 2 answers

Pages do not load quickly. Often times any action or selection of a box, drop down, check, pretty much ANY Javascript interaction causes the whole entire page to load/reload/start doing something in the background. This makes a nightmare for having to mass edit courses or upload ILT sessions. It's the one of the archaic web designs they use that really bugs me as an admin and makes working in the portal at times intolerable and insufferable

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Joseph Madere

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cornerstone OnDemand 6.1

Based on 34 answers

They are still working out issues with their support ticket system. I think we are now experienced enough that when we submit a ticket, there is not a quick easy answer and involves higher levels of support so it does tend to take a LONG time to get assistance. When there is a major issue, their communication is getting better but when you have a defect to report or a high level support it's going to be a while. They do have EXCELLENT online help, a very active online community where customers help customers and great user groups so there is other avenues of help

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Melissa Odom

Talent Management Analyst

BKD CPAs & AdvisorsFinancial Services, 1001-5000 employees

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SmarterU.com 8.0

Based on 1 answer

Really good support initially, now support is OK but we have fewer needs.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting

Education Management Company, 1001-5000 employees

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In-Person Training

Cornerstone OnDemand 3.9

Based on 2 answers

Very personable and patient. Features that I'm sure to them are very simple and repetitive were trained with patience and understanding.

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Joseph Madere

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Online Training

Cornerstone OnDemand 5.4

Based on 5 answers

Training was thorough.

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Christopher Fox, Ph.D.

Corporate Trainer

Crescent Bank & TrustFinancial Services, 501-1000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

Cornerstone OnDemand is lightyears ahead of HealthStream. HealthStream's system is archaic and does not have any features besides basic compliance training. HealthStream is not visually appealing and users simply choose to log in and complete only what has been assigned to them. Cornerstone's catalog is so much more user friendly and inviting.

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Chelsea Polette, M.A.

Instructional Designer & Training Consultant

Henry Ford Health SystemHospital & Health Care, 10,001+ employees

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No answers on this topic

Scalability

Cornerstone OnDemand 9.1

Based on 1 answer

It can accomodate any number of users (that you're willing to pay for) and serves as a training archive

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Joseph Madere

LMS Administrator

H&E Equipment Services, Inc.Machinery, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Return on Investment

The work my small admin team has done in the past 2 1/2 years, would have cost my company hundreds of thousands of dollars with a 3rd party.
Using Cornerstone as an LMS has put our Company on the map for a leader in Learning and Development.

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Nina Queen

Sr. Learning Parter / Learning Management System

MGM Resorts InternationalHospitality, 10,001+ employees

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It has helped us to make sure our training is consistent across multiple locations and trainers and ensured less drift.
The course tracking and certification allows us to manage new hires and make sure they complete all required training to later achieve an RBT certification.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Finance and Accounting

Education Management Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Required

* One-time fee

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com

Cornerstone OnDemand

SmarterU.com